Railway-car sander.



No. 7l0,489. Patented Oct. 7, I902.

D. N. MILLER. RAILWAY GAR SANDER.

(Application filed Apr. 10, 1902.) (No Model.)

FIB

M75165 .ses. Izmenibr.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

DUNCAN NEIL MILLER, OE HAMILTON, CANADA.

RAILWAY-CAR SANDER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 710,489, dated October7, 1902.

Application filed April 10, 1902. Serial No. 102.207. (Nomotlel) To (0Z5whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, DUNCAN NEIL MILLER, a citizen of Canada, residing atHamilton, in the county of iVentworth and Province of On tario, Canada,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Railway-OarSanders; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, andexact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilledin the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to railway-car sanders, more especially tostreet-railway cars; and it consists of a hopper to contain sand anddesigned to be located under the seat of a car and resting on the floor.The lower part of the hopper has a horizontal cylinder communicatingwith the hopper and a varyingpitch worm in the cylinder capable of beingrevolved by the motorman of the car by means of mechanism connected tothe worm and extended to a hand-wheel in proximity to the motorman. Apipe or tube communicates from the cylinder to a position above one ofthe ground-rails and in front of one of the forward wheels to allow sandto fall on the rail when operated.

The objects of my invention are, first, to provide a railway-car sanderwhich shall operate in a most satisfactory manner and under the controlof the motorman; second, to provide a railway-car sander which shall behidden from view; third, to provide a railwaycar sander which shall becapable of discharging sand when the same is damp or dry or containssmall stones, and, fourth, to afford facilities for entering thedischarging end of the cylinder without taking out the end thereof. Iattain these objects by the mechanism illustrated in the accompanyingdrawings, in which- Figure 1 is a sectional elevation of the sandingdevice shown in position on the floor of a street-railway car, also theposition of the sander to one of the front wheels of the car. Fig. 2 isan end elevation of the front end of the sander, showing the sprocketdrivingwheels and located under the hinged seat of a car; and Fig. 3 isan enlarged sectional end elevation of the discharging end of thehorizontal cylinder of the hopper, showing the end sliding cover of thecylinder.

Similar characters refer to similar parts throughout the several views.

In the drawings the sand-hopper is indicated by A and its lowerhorizontal cylinder by B. The cylinder is supported by base brackets C,which are secured to the floor D of the car. The cylinder extends aboutonethird of its length past each end of the feed part of the hopper. Thehorizontal cylindershaft E has a worm or screw F inside the cylinder.The worm varies in the pitchthat is, a'larger pitch at thesand-discharge end of the cylinder than the forward end of thecylindercontinuingin gradual reduction of the pitch to its forward end.The gradual increase of the pitch of the worm from the forward end tothe discharge end of the worm adds to its efficiency in passing throughthe sand and in forcing the sand gradually to the discharging end. Thisfeature is important. The bearings H are secured to the floor D andsupport the shaft E. The hangers K are secured to the under side of thefloor D and support the horizontal shaft M. N represents adjustablecollars on the same shaft. The discharging end of the cylinder isprovided with a cover 2, which is capable of sliding in the guides 3 toopen said cylinder for various purposesfor instance, especially toremove a large stone or other foreign matter.

Above the cylinder B is a horizontal shaft P in bearings 4 of thehopper. This shaft P has a number of projecting pins or teeth 5, whichproject out from the shaft P in the hopper to disturb and agitate thesand in the hopper that the sand, more especially damp sand, may fiowfreely from the hopper to the cylinder when the shafts P andE arerevolved.

R is the discharge-pipe of the cylinder, and S is a flexiblecontinuation of said dischargepipe located immediately in front of theforward car-wheel W.

The forward end of the worm-shaft E has sprocket-wheels T and U securedthereto, and the upper shaft P has a sprocket-wheel V secured thereto.The sprocket V is driven by the sprocket U by means of the chain 6. Asprocket-wheel Y is secured to the shaft H and drives the sprocket T bymeans of the chain 7.

The vertical shaft 8 at the forward end of the car is supported by thebushing 9 of the floor D and the collar 10 of the shaft. Other uppersteadying means may be employed for this shaft 8.

12 is a hand-wheel on the upper end of the shaft 8 to revolve the shaft.The lower end of the shaft 8 has a bevel-Wheel 13 secured thereto whichgears into the bevel-wheel 14, secured on the forward end of the shaftM.

The hopper,with its cylinder, together with its immediate mechanismabove the floor, is located under a forward seat 16 of a car. The seat16 is hinged at 17 to the framework 18 of the car and may be opened, asshown in broken lines in Fig. 2 of the drawings, to obtain access to thehopper for filling and other purposes. 7

The operation of the invention is as follows: When the hopperhassufficient sand,the handwheel 12 is revolved, as indicated by arrow. Theshaft 8 revolves the horizontal shaft M by means of the gears 13 and 14.The shaft M revolves the horizontal shaft E, together with its worm F,by means of the sprockets Y and T with their chain 7. Consequently theupper shaft P, together with its teeth 5, is revolved at the same timeby means of the sprockets U and V with their connectingchain 6. The sandis then discharged from the cylinder and through the discharge-pipes Rand S onto the car-track rail.-

Various changes in the form, proportion, and minordetails of thisinvention may be resorted to without departing from the spirit and scopethereof.

Hence What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by LettersPatent, is

1. In a railway-car sander, a hopper with lowerhorizontal cylinder communicatingwith the hopper and extending beyond the feeding ends of thehopper, a sliding cover on the discharging end of the cylinder, ahorizontal shaft extending through the cylinder, bearings secured to thecar-floor and under the car-seat to support the shaft, a lower dischargepipe communicating with the rear part of the cylinder, a worm asdescribed on the shaft and extending from the dischargeoutlet to nearthe forward end of the cylinder, a sprocket-wheel secured on the forwardend of the shaft and means for revolving said sprocket, substantially asdescribed.

2. In a railway-car sander,a hopper,a lower horizontal cylindercommunicating with the hopper and extending past the feeding endsthereof, a horizontal shaft extending through the cylinder-bearingssecured to the car-floor and under a seat, for said shaft, adischargepipe communicating with the rear extended part of the cylinder,a worm of gradual varying pitch on the shaft and extending from thedischarge-outlet to near the forward end of the cylinder, asprocket-wheel secured on the shaft at the forward end thereof, ahorizontal hopper-shaft extending through the hopper, teeth projectingfrom the part of said shaft in the hopper, a sprocket-wheel on thehopper-shaft, a chain connecting said sprockets and means for revolvingthe sprocket on the worm-shaft, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

DUNCAN NEIL MILLER.

Witnesses:

JOHN H. HENDRY, A. MoPHERsoN.

